Kent Eagles rounded off their home National Development Trophy home team fixtures in dominant mood as they saw off the challenge of the Birmingham Bulls by a 54-35 margin, a scoreline and the acquisition of the aggregate bonus point (98-79) seeing them leapfrog the West Midlands outfit into second place in the table.
The match effectively became a tale of two guests as 15-year-old Cooper Rushen lived up to every ounce of pre-meeting hype and billing. Rushen, more usually seen in the colours of NDT winners, the King’s Lynn Young Stars stepped in to deputise for Vinnie Foord and again dazzled another substantial attendance, equal top scoring with Kent Captain Ben Morley (both riders being paid for 17-points) and in the process knocking a staggering 1.2 seconds off of Jody Scott’s track record, lowering the previous best to 56.2.
Such was Rushen’s pace he also lopped nearly a second from Alfie Bowtell’s track record, 57.1, set in May 2022 and prior to work that altered the Iwade circuit prior to the 2025 season.
On any other day, Rushen’s exploits would no doubt have monopolised the talk of the terraces but on this occasion, there proved an element of shared billing as the Bulls could vaunt a star guest of their own in Ryan Ingram.
Ingram was slotted into the Birmingham reserve to replace the injured Arran Butcher and he responded in wholly impressive style, returning 18-points from seven outings, indeed more than half his adopted teams overall score, the most spectacular moment of all seeing him head both Morley and Rushen to the chequered flag in a pulsating heat thirteen, ending the maximum hopes of each at a stroke.
Ingram most certainly proved the Bulls saviour after they saw their team effectively decimated heading into the clash, heat leader duo Darryl Ritchings and Sam McGurk proving late withdrawals through injury and other commitments, Tom Spencer having to travel down country from Berwick where he was representing Plymouth the previous evening.
Although the destiny of the match points was seldom in question they stuck to the task at hand and aided by no fewer than five heat wins from Ingram, they kept tabs on their hosts for much of the meeting.
Rushen opened the show with that track record busting effort in heat one, winning at a canter ahead of Spencer with Luke Harris, taking the rider replacement rider to secure an opening 4-2. One had to feel sympathy for the unfortunate Jack Crewe who suffered a first bend fall but remounted to continue, such was Rushen’s turn of speed he actually lapped Crewe down the back straight of his final circuit to see the Birmingham man excluded.
The visitors found themselves level at the conclusion of heat two as Ingram harvested his first win ahead of another Eagles guest Kenzie Cossey. A share of the spoils looked on the cards, but Nathan Hargrave suffered a fall two bends from home necessitating a race stoppage, one that saw Eli Meadows awarded the odd point for the 4-2 that levelled the scores at 6-points apiece.
Jacob Clouting and Harris combined for maximum points in the third ahead of Joe Crewe. Sienna Summer’s had made a fast start to lead into the first bend, but his machine spluttered and died as he hit the back straight leaving the Kent pairing to propel their team into a 11-7 advantage.
Four-points became six following the next as Morley proved an all the way winner in race four. Hargrave rode a brave race, leading Spencer for a couple of laps before being passed however he held one to take third at the expense of Meadows.
Ingram bagged a second win in the fifth with Clouting and Harris filling the minor places and with that the home lead remained at 6-points (18-12) with a third of the contest done.
A flurry of advantages, a brace of 4-2’s either side of a 3-2 between heats six to eight established a double figure lead, 29-18 at that stage.
Confusion reigned in the first of these after Spencer was excluded after he and Clouting came down in an untidy heap entering bend three. Then Clouting was ruled out having exceeded the two-minute time allowance. As Rushen lined up to take on Ingram in an effective head-to-head, the pit gate opened again, allowing Clouting to take his place off the fifteen-metre mark.
As the race got underway it was the Kent guest who outpaced the Birmingham guest, Clouting following on in third for the 4-2 that extended the margin to 22-14.
Heat seven saw only two finishers as Morley saw off Summers and with that the scores moved to 25-16 before the eighth heat 4-2 saw Rushen collect his third win in three, a comfortable victory ahead of Meadows, Hargrave and Jack Crewe.
Ingram returned to winning ways in the ninth as he again headed home Clouting and Harris but Rushen and Morley then combined for a big 5-1 ahead of Summers to steer the home side closer to the match points, Eagles second 5-1 of the meeting seeing them 15-points to the good, 37-22 progressively.
Morley again defeated Summers in the next and with Cossey snatching the odd point for the 4-2 and an overall 41-24 lead it was the Iwade outfit who edged ever closer to overall victory.
Kent secured the necessary points to claim the win and move into second place in the table in heat twelve but again it was Ingram who was first to the flag as he headed home both Harris and Hargrave.
While that might have been considered impressive, it hardly held a candle to what was soon to follow and once more it was Ingram who proved the man of the moment.
With Rushen and Morley, both as yet unbeaten by an opponent, few could see past a further maximum in favour of the home side.
Ingram rode the perfect race however, making a sharp start and doing all that was necessary to keep the chasing pair at bay for the full four laps.
The second successive share of the spoils saw the scores stand at 47-30 with 17-points the difference and although the points were safely in the bag so far as the Eagles were concerned, the Bulls, potentially, sadly, contesting the final meeting by a Birmingham team had certainly not been disgraced.
The penultimate heat witnessed something of a difference of opinion. While Cossey and Clouting appeared set to increase the margin further as they jousted with Summer’s, Clouting reared alarmingly and fell coming out of the second bend of the final lap.
The race continued however and the image that stayed with many holding a Kent bias felt it was Cossey who led over the line. However, the match official Christina Turnbull saw things differently and Summer’s was duly awarded the win. With Meadows following up with third place, the 4-2 went the way of the visitors, the difference reducing to 15-points, 49-34 with one heat left to contest.
Heat fifteen belonged to Eagles Captain Morley who reclaimed mastery of his home circuit as he snatched the victory, Ingram’s hopes of repeating his exploits of two races earlier being dashed as Rushden also came from behind to secure the closing 5-1, one that saw the final scoreline rest at 54-35.
In the final reckoning it was a buoyant Kent Team Manager David Graveling who commented ‘What a great way to end our home season with a convincing win. Our thanks go out to Cooper (Rushen) and Kenzie (Cossey) for guesting and to the other riders on show today. It was a nice gesture that fans stayed to hear the riders’ thoughts on our last home team meeting of 2025.
Next up at Iwade is the National Development Pairs on the 5th of October and we look forward to seeing you all there’.
Eagles: Ben Morley 16+1(6), Cooper Rushden (Guest for Vinnie Foord) 15+2(6), Jacob Clouting 8(5), Luke Harris 7+3(5), Kenzie Cossey (Guest for Charlie Wood) 5(4), Nathan Hargrave 3+1(4), Rider Replacement for Nathan Ablitt. – 54 (Aggregate 98)
Bulls: Ryan Ingram (Guest for Arran Butcher) 18(7), Senna Summers 8(5), Tom Spencer 4(5), Eli Meadows 4(5), Joe Crewe (Replacing Sam McGurk) 1(4), Jack Crewe (Replacing Max James) 0(4), Rider Replacement for Daryl Ritchings – 35 (Aggregate 79)
Pictures supplied by Tiffani Graveling.